Good morning!
Greetings in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
They sang,
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and strength belong to our God
forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7:12)
In Bible, there are full of thanksgivings. The people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, as the water stood up like a wall on both sides. That is how the Lord rescued Israel from the hand of the Egyptians that they pursued to kill the Israelites that day. However, God made the water rush back into its usual place. The Egyptians tried to escape, but the waters returned and covered all the chariots and charioteers—the entire army of Pharaoh. Of all the Egyptians who had chased the Israelites into the sea, not a single one survived. And the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the seashore. When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and gave thanks to God.
“I will sing to the Lord,
for he has triumphed gloriously;
he has hurled both horse and rider
into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.
This is my God, and I will praise him—
my father’s God, and I will exalt him!
The Lord is a warrior;
Yahweh is his name!
Pharaoh’s chariots and army
he has hurled into the sea.
The finest of Pharaoh’s officers
are drowned in the Red Sea.
The deep waters gushed over them;
they sank to the bottom like a stone.” (Exodus 15:1-5)
This was the song of the Moses and the people of Israel on the other side of the Red Sea, while looking at the bodies of the mighty Egyptian warriors on the sea. The 600,000 men and their families (about two million people) sang the same song with the heart of thanksgiving to God, who rescued from the edges of the swords of the mighty Egyptian armies.
Hannah was barren. She wanted to have a baby, but she could not. Her husband loved her and comforted her, but her heart was full of sorrows. Hannah prayed and prayed. One day, she was truly heartbreaking. She poured out her heart while looking up God. As she was praying, Eli, the priest watched her. Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking. “Must you come here drunk?” he demanded. “Throw away your wine!” Even her priest could not understand her heart.
“Oh no, sir!” she replied. “I haven’t been drinking wine or anything stronger. But I am very discouraged, and I was pouring out my heart to the Lord. Don’t think I am a wicked woman! For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow.”
“Yes, I see!” Eli said, “Go in peace! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.”
“Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad because she truly believed from the deepest part of her heart. She returned home with her husband and the rest of the family. God remembered her, and in due time she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel. When the child was weaned, as she prayed before God, Hannah took Samuel to the Tabernacle in Shiloh. She searched for Eli, the priest. “Sir, do you remember me?” Hannah asked. “I am the woman who stood here several years ago praying to the Lord. I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” Then they worshiped the Lord there. Hannah gave a prayer of praise:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord!
The Lord has made me strong.
Now I have an answer for my enemies;
I rejoice because you rescued me.
No one is holy like the Lord!
There is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
…
He will protect his faithful ones,
but the wicked will disappear in darkness.
No one will succeed by strength alone.
Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered.
He thunders against them from heaven;
the Lord judges throughout the earth.
He gives power to his king;
he increases the strength of his anointed one.” (1 Samuel 2:1-2, 9-10)
Hannah was in extreme joy before God because God heard Hannah’s prayer. Hannah finally got a baby boy, Samuel. Her deep sorrow was comforted, and she was vindicated by God. She kept her vow to God. She gave her most precious Samuel back to God. In faith, she was in joy and gave the above prayer of thanksgiving to the God, who rescued and blessed her. God was her rock of faith, and she stood on the rock in thanksgiving. God made her joyful in her faith, and she sang back to God.
David was the most beloved king by God. He was faithful in faith and God blessed. David captured Jerusalem, and David called it the City of David. He extended the city, starting at the supporting terraces and working inward. David became more and more powerful, because the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies was with him.
When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king of Israel, they mobilized all their forces to capture him. David prayed to God, and God granted His wisdom on David. David did what the Lord commanded, and he was able to strike down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
Then David again gathered all the elite troops in Israel, 30,000 in all. He led them to Baalah of Judaha to bring back the Ark of God, which bears the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. They placed the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from Abinadab’s house. David and all the people of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, singing songs and playing all kinds of musical instruments—lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals.
But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out his hand and steadied the Ark of God. Then the Lord’s anger was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him dead because of this. So Uzzah died right there beside the Ark of God. David was afraid of the God, and he even asked, “How can I ever bring the Ark of the Lord back into my care?” David had to stop moving the Ark, although he badly wanted to move the Ark to Jerusalem. The Ark was at the house of Obed-edom, and God blessed the household because of the Ark of God.
David prayed for three months, and then he decided to move the Ark to Jerusalem, the City of David with a great celebration. After the men who were carrying the Ark of the Lord had gone six steps, David sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing of rams’ horns.
Finally, David brought the Ark of God in Jerusalem and set it in its place inside the special tent David had prepared for it. And David sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord. When he had finished his sacrifices, David blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. Then he gave to every Israelite man and woman in the crowd a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins. David appointed the Levites to lead the people in worship before the Ark of the Lord—to invoke his blessings, to give thanks, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. On that day David sang the song of thanksgiving to God:
Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done.
Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.
Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.
Exult in his holy name;
rejoice, you who worship the Lord.
Search for the Lord and for his strength;
continually seek him.
Remember the wonders he has performed,
his miracles, and the rulings he has given,
you children of his servant Israel,
you descendants of Jacob, his chosen ones.
…
Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!
Tell all the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy
Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise,
for the Lord is coming to judge the earth.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
Cry out, “Save us, O God of our salvation!
Gather and rescue us from among the nations,
so we can thank your holy name
and rejoice and praise you.”
Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
who lives from everlasting to everlasting! (1 Chronicles 16:7-13, 31-36)
David was truly joyful because the Ark of God was in the city of David. He praised and gave thanks. He shared this thanksgiving with his people, and all sang together in the great joy.
Then what will be the greatest joy for all believers? Here is the greatest scene that we, all believers, together will witness in Heaven and be joyful forever with all other believers before God.
Here is what John, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, saw in the book of Revelation: After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar,
“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne
and from the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:10b)
Please imagine the great road being shouted by the vast crowd in Heaven, which we cannot count. The roar will be much greater than the thanksgiving song sang by the two million people of Israel after crossing the Red Sea. The depth of thankfulness will be much deeper than the Hannah’s thanksgiving prayer. The joy will be much more joyful than the song of David after bringing the Ark in the city of David, Jerusalem. By that time, all things will be renewed and our salvation will be completed, as Jesus declared on the cross, “It is Finished.”
John continued: A loud shout from the throne is saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:3-5a)No more tears, deaths, sorrows, cries, and pains, and all things made new in Him. This is what we will experience in Heaven.
We will also see that all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their faces to the ground and worshiped God. They sang,
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and strength belong to our God
forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7:12b)
Yes, we will together praise and giving thanks to God forever, who is our everlasting and ever-loving God. We will give our eternal thanksgiving to Him. Thus, we should not lose heart, fix our eyes on Jesus Christ, and run the race given to us while standing firm on faith in Him. This is our faith. God’s blessings to everyone who reads and shares this beautiful message with both believers and those to be saved in Jesus Christ, Our Savior.
He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!”
Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20)